


Five Things That Peter Learned From Jared

by vic_amy_z



Category: Franklin & Bash
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-22
Updated: 2011-10-22
Packaged: 2017-10-24 20:48:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/267728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vic_amy_z/pseuds/vic_amy_z
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter has learned a lot of things through having Jared as his friend. This is just some of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Things That Peter Learned From Jared

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic in this fandom, I hope you like it. Inspired, in part, by many of the wonderful prompts over at the kink!meme. I know very little about the American Legal System so any mistakes made there are all mine...

**  
Five Things That Peter Learned From Jared... And One Thing That They Learned Together   
**

Peter has a list. He thinks about writing it down one day, but mostly it just stays in his head. It's a list of all the things he's learned since one Jared Franklin became his best friend. It still gets added to. Frequently.

 

 **1) Friends don't let friends experiment alone...**

Peter opened the dorm room door carefully and tiptoed inside. It was gone one in the morning and he didn't want to blunder in and wake Jared if he was already asleep. As it was, the room was empty so Peter figured that either his roommate was studying somewhere or, more likely, that he'd got lucky.

Finals were rapidly approaching and Peter had been studying in the library for what felt like a month. He flopped down wearily on his bed and grabbed another textbook. He knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep properly until Jared got back so he figured that he might as well make use of the time.

After another twenty minutes of dry legal text, his eyes strayed longingly towards the copy of 'Hustler' that he could see sticking out from underneath Jared's bed.

'Nope, not tonight,' he said out loud, resigning himself to studying the outcome of the landmark _'Someone vs. Someone Else'_ case, the exact details of which had long been forgotten by Peter's sleep-deprived brain.

Ten minutes later, he was snoring quietly from underneath his text book.

Peter woke with a start and looked at the clock. It was two thirty in the morning and Jared's bed was still empty. Besides that, Peter knew that he'd been woken by... something. And not to go all 'predictable horror flick' but it was coming from inside the room. He stopped and listened hard. It was another thirty seconds or so before he heard it again, a slight shuffling, whimpering sound. And it appeared to be coming from the wardrobe...

The combination of lack of sleep and strange noises in the middle of the night were causing Peter to freak out a little. Carefully, he got up and looked for something - anything - that he could use as a weapon. After a quick deliberation he decided against using his guitar; some things were just too precious. The baseball bat would have been ideal, but sadly it was also in the wardrobe along with the thing that, in Peter's mind, had now become a rabid, flesh-eating serial killer.

'Time to man up then,' he thought, mustering every ounce of courage he had.

Marching purposefully over to the wardrobe door, he grasped the handle and yanked it open fast, ready to face the horror within. He'd expected to find nothing; the accumulation of several all-nighters playing tricks on this mind. He'd even expected to find it was some sort of prank by some of the other guys in the dorm. What he hadn't expected to find was Jared sitting on the floor, his legs pulled up to his chest, eyes wide and frightened.

'What the fuck...' Peter immediately crouched down in front of his best friend and looked him in the eyes. 'What happened to you, man? Tell me.'

'Dunno... was something... I think... shouldn't have done...' Jared's words were disjointed, his eyes still wide and darting from side to side.

The only light in the room was coming from Peter's lamp, but even he could see that Jared's pupils were dilated way beyond what was natural. His friend was clearly strung out on something, but Peter had no idea what and doubted that Jared could tell him, even if he knew.

'Come on, let's get you out of there,' Peter coaxed gently, taking hold of Jared's hands from around his knees and pulling him forward. He managed to get Jared onto a bed, even if he was still curled up into a ball. Peter went to the sink for a glass of water and brought it back to Jared, pushing it into his hands until he had no choice but to take it.

Jared held the glass as though he wasn't even sure what he should do with it, until Peter said 'You need to drink something. It'll help'. Finally, Jared raised the glass to his lips and slowly drained it, his hand shaking a little. He handed it wordlessly back to Peter, who put it carefully to one side while he gathered his thoughts.

'You wanna tell me what happened tonight?' Peter asked in measured tones.

'Party... Phi Alpha's... got some... pills...' came the unsteady reply.

Fuck! Those damned idiots. Getting an easy ride through law school on Daddy's money. Guess they thought it was funny to mess with Jared because he'd refused to pledge. But it wasn't like him to do dumb shit like this; he liked a drink and maybe the occasional smoke, but other than that Jared was pretty clean living, and more than capable of telling those frat boys where to stick it. Unless... oh shit!

'Do I even want to know why?'

'Phone call... father... asshole...' Jared was starting to rock slowly back and forth now, shaking as though he were freezing cold. Peter didn't think that it was possible to hate anyone as much as he hated Leonard Franklin at that moment.

He grabbed the quilt from his own bed and wrapped it around Jared. He didn't know what the hell to do to get his friend through this; he just knew that calling someone wasn't an option. It would definitely get Jared thrown out of school and quite frankly Peter wasn't going to give Jared's father the satisfaction. Instead, he sat on the bed behind Jared and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him back towards his chest. They stayed that way for a few minutes until the worst of the shaking subsided.

'Sorry...' The voice sounded small and scared; so not like Jared, no matter how other people saw him.

''S'okay,' Peter mumbled into the back of Jared's head. 'Just promise me that next time you feel like sampling some of the more interesting narcotics that this campus has to offer, you'll tell me first?'

'So you can... tell me not to...?'

'So I know where you are and what you've taken,' Peter replied simply.

'Oh.'

'Look, I get why you might need to...' Peter struggled for the right words, '... _'disengage'_ once in a while. Just don't do it on your own, 'kay?' He felt Jared nod his head. To try and lighten the mood he added, 'Or failing that, next time I'll just do it with you. Who knows, it might have been more fun if there'd been two of us hiding in the wardrobe?'

That earned Peter a small laugh before another bout of shaking had him pulling Jared tight into his chest again, holding him until it was over.

Peter ran a hand distractedly through his friend's hair. 'You think you might get some sleep tonight?'

Jared shook his head.

'Maybe if I just...' Peter reached over to turn off the lamp.

A hand shot out and grabbed his wrist surprisingly hard. 'Don't... please. Still seeing... things...' Jared managed.

'That's okay, I can leave it on for you.' Peter soothed. He swung his leg out from behind Jared, making towards his own bed.

'Peter!' He quickly turned back towards the sound of his friend's voice. 'Could you, maybe, stay up with me? Please?' Jared's face seemed stricken with fear at the thought of being alone tonight.

Slowly, Peter manoeuvred himself back behind Jared and pulled the smaller man against him again. He glanced at the clock. He had a test in less than six hours. 'Sure buddy, I can stay up with you...'

 

 **2) A friend will bail you out; a best friend will be sitting next to you in handcuffs...**

'Do you want to explain to me how we got here again?' Peter kept his voice calm and even, but there was no denying the fact that he was sitting side by side with Jared in a jail cell. In handcuffs.

'A slight miscalculation on my part...' Jared began.

'Slight?' Peter interrupted, his voice losing that note of calm. 'Slight?! We're in jail! How is that a 'slight' miscalculation?!'

'Hey, you knew that it was a risky defence strategy going in.'

'I didn't know that it was _'Contempt of Court'_ risky!'

Jared shrugged. 'Well, you win some, you lose some.'

'What? We lost the case too?!'

'Considering how well your defence went down with Judge Parker, I'd say that it's a distinct possibility, yes.' Jared conceded.

'Oh this just gets better and better!' Peter sighed.

'I did try to get the judge to see how short-sighted she was being in dismissing your brilliant but maverick strategy out of hand like that.' Jared said.

'You told her that she was, and I quote "an in-bred moron with more teeth than brain cells and all the charm and wit of a septic tank"!'

'I said, " _With respect your Honour_ , you're an in-bred moron with more teeth than brain cells and all the charm and wit of a septic tank". All comments were made with the utmost reverence.' Jared placed his hands solemnly on his chest to indicate the sincerity of his remarks.

'Yeah? Well I think she might have missed that part.' Peter sighed deeply and tried to run his hands through his hair. Except that he only succeeded in jabbing himself in the face with the cuffs that held his wrists together. He let his hands drop back into his lap again. 'Running your own law firm should not be this hard,' he muttered to himself.

'Cheer up, buddy,' Jared said with his irrepressible grin, 'it could be worse.'

'How, Jared? How could this be any worse?' Later on, Peter would regret asking that question. After all the years he'd know Jared, he should have recognised the wicked glint in his friend's eyes that could only mean one thing - trouble.

'You could have a face like that guy?'

Up until that point, their cellmate had appeared to be asleep on the bunk opposite, something for which Peter had been extremely grateful, considering that he was spilling off it on all sides as the tiny, shelf-like mattress struggled to contain his bulk. One eye flickered slowly open.

'You two ladies got something you wanna say?' A rough voice that sounded like it gargled with razor blades addressed them.

'Are you fucking kidding me with this shit?' Peter hissed at Jared, who just grinned back.

Jared cleared his throat, stood up and went into what Peter liked to think of as 'Lawyer Mode', his usual emphatic gesturing somewhat hampered but the handcuffs. 'I mean, no offense to you, sir. I'm just using your... unusual visage as the foundation of my argument with my colleague here. Which is that things could be a lot worse.' The man-mountain started to get up. 'May I present to you Exhibit A; one face that only a mother could love,' Jared's eyes flicked upwards 'and even she could have a hard time with this one. The defence rests.' He sat down again, a look of smug accomplishment on his face.

The man was now up off his bunk; approximately seven feet tall and about as wide, even his tattoos had tattoos.

Peter swallowed hard and leaned slowly towards Jared. Never taking his eyes off the tattooed giant in front of them, he whispered in his friend's ear, 'You do know that if he _doesn't_ kill you, I will, right?'

Jared leaned back and whispered, 'Motion to kill your partner is denied. Sorry.'

One step... Two steps... The sound of eighteen tons of muscle in steel toe-capped boots was getting closer. Peter decided to close his eyes and brace himself for the ass kicking of a lifetime - possibly his last.

'Franklin? Bash? You're out of here.' Peter leapt up off the bench. He could have sworn that the sound of a heavenly choir accompanied the shout of the duty officer. He went over to the bars, Jared not far behind him, where he saw the equally heavenly sight of Carmen arriving to bail them out.

'Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you...' came the mantra from Peter's lips.

Carmen stood in front of them, one hand on her hip and surveyed the cell like she was picking out a lobster. 'I'll take... that one.' She pointed a finger towards Peter. 'Oh, and you can throw that little one in for free if you like,' she finished with a smile.

'Ha ha, Carmen. Very funny,' replied Jared.

The officer stepped up to the bars with a large set of keys in his hand. 'Stand down, Tiny,' he said to the man behind them, 'Your Mom said she'd get here as soon as she can.'

'Tiny?' Jared mouthed at Peter.

'Shut up!' Peter mouthed back.

It wasn't until the cell door banged shut again, with them on the outside this time, that Peter felt himself start to relax. 'Carmen, thank you so mu...'

She cut him off. 'Message from Judge Parker - she says that she's cutting you two some slack because you're new and you're cute.' She paused, looking between them, 'She didn't say which one of you was which.'

Immediately both Peter and Jared pointed to themselves and began talking over each other.

'Well, clearly, I'm the cute one here...'

'I think you'll find that she was referring to me...'

'Oh come on, you can't be...'

'BUT...' Carmen continued before an undignified scuffle broke out. 'You,' she pointed at Peter. 'If you pull that shit in her courtroom again, she will not hesitate to bust your ass! And you,' she turned and pointed at Jared. 'If you use language like that in her courtroom again, she will not hesitate to bust your face! Understood?'

Both lawyers nodded, mutely.

'Her words, not mine,' Carmen finished breezily as she turned to leave.

'I bet some of those words were hers,' whispered Peter.

'Yeah, the bad ones.'

'I heard that.'

The officer approached them again, this time with a set of keys to unlock their cuffs. As the right key was located, Peter thought about how they'd both ended up there. 'Hey,' he turned towards Jared, 'Why did you say all that to Judge Parker? Your astounding lack of social graces aside, I mean'

'What do you mean?'

'Well, I was the one with the _"brilliant but maverick"_ defence strategy that backfired due to a _"slight miscalculation"_...' Peter loved using air quotes, although the officer seemed less keen as he chased Peter wrists with the key. 'If you'd just kept your mouth shut, you could have been back at the Cave drinking margaritas by now.'

'Yeah, but where's the fun in that if you're not there?' Jared replied. 'Besides, if I hadn't been here, you might not have got on so well with Tiny here.'

'But it was you who... with the face comments... and the...' Peter spluttered to a stop. The officer moved over to remove Jared's cuffs. 'Any chance that you could leave those on him, officer?' asked Peter through gritted teeth, his hands clenched at his sides for the first time in several hours that day.

'Handcuffs, Peter?' Jared grinned as the officer ignored them and took Jared's cuffs off anyway, 'Kinky. You know you just had to ask, right?'

Peter sighed. Only Jared would all but voluntarily get himself thrown into jail and then nearly get them both beaten to a pulp, just because he didn't want to sit around at home without Peter.

He grabbed hold of his friend's arm and pulled. 'You. Home. Now.' Peter turned and followed Carmen out of the cells.

'Ooh, so dominant. I like it.' Jared trailed behind him, laughing. 'I'll get the whip.'

'Don't tempt me, Jared. Just don't tempt me...'

 

 **3) Mi cama es su cama...***

When Janie broke up with Peter, Jared was there for him.

He was there when Peter wanted to sit in front of the TV in his underwear for days at a time and watch infomercials about cleaning products. He was there when Peter saw her in court for the first time since the break-up, when he ended up crying and punching the wall of the men's room. He was there when Peter wanted to unleash his inner party animal and get totally and utterly wasted during a particularly spectacular 'Tequila Tuesday'. And he was there when Peter spent several hours hugging the toilet bowl after consuming vast quantities of said tequila.

'Oh god...' Peter groaned weakly, still clutching the porcelain for dear life. 'Tell me it's all gone? I have nothing left to throw up with, I swear.'

'That's it, man. Get it all out. You'll feel better.'

By this point, Jared was spouting generic platitudes from the bathtub where he was reading a comic book. In his defence, he'd been far more supportive during the first hour of projectile vomiting; rubbing Peter's back in slow circles, fetching him glasses of water and cool washcloths to clean him up. By hour three, however, even Peter couldn't blame him for taking more of a backseat role. No one had forced him to drink his own body weight in tequila.

'I think I'm ready now,' Peter conceded, sitting back on the bathroom floor and leaning his head against the cool tile as the room spun around him.

'You really think you can make it to bed this time?' Jared asked, closing his comic book and levering himself out of the tub, clearly thinking of the three aborted attempts they'd already made to try and leave the confines of the bathroom.

'No, I'm ready to die now. Someone give me last rites and I'm good to go.'

'Asshole!' Jared threw his comic at Peter's head, but laughing at the state his friend had got himself in all the same.

'Ow!' Peter cried, not knowing which of the three comic books he could see was going to hit him. 'So not helping right now.' He tried to laugh too but it hurt his head too much.

'So, how're you feeling now, buddy? Scale of one to ten?' Jared sat on the side of the tub, observing Peter carefully.

'Does a 'ten' mean that I'm feeling spectacularly good or spectacularly bad?' Peter's face was crumpled in confusion.

'Just tell me how you're feeling, dumb ass!'

Peter shrugged. 'Like someone reached down my throat, grabbed hold of my stomach and ripped it out?' Peter's description came with added 'grabbing' and 'ripping' hand gestures. 'And then replaced it with a washing machine stuck on spin cycle.'

'That good, huh?'

Jared stood and held out both of his hands to Peter. Defying the laws of physics, he somehow managed to haul his friend up off the floor and, with Peter's arm around his shoulders, they veered off down the hallway into Peter's room. Again.

They ran into Carmen as they came past the kitchen. 'Another try?' she asked.

'You know what they say,' Jared replied, wearily, 'fourth time's the charm.'

When they finally made it to Peter's room, Jared stopped short of actually tucking him in, but he made sure that Peter had plenty of water, a selection pain meds and a bucket - all the essentials of 'sleeping it off'. Peter lay down on the bed, too out of it to even bother fighting with the covers. 'Why is the room still spinning, Jared?' he grabbed hold of the other man's shoulders in a panic.

'Because you're still wasted, now let go of me so we can both get some sleep.'

'But if I hold on to you, the spinning might stop.' To Peter, the logic was flawless.

'It'll stop when you've had eight hours sleep and a couple of gallons of water. Now go to bed.' Jared extricated himself from Peter's grasp with a grin.

'Okay,' Peter mumbled. 'Spoilsport.' He turned over and watched through one eye as Jared slipped out of his room and closed the door quietly behind him. The room continued to spin like an out-of-control roulette wheel.

Ten minutes later, Peter was knocking tentatively at Jared's door.

'Wha'?'

Peter opened the door at the sound of Jared's voice, the light from the hallway spilling into the room and illuminating him from behind. Peter didn't say anything. He didn't need to.

'Still spinning?' asked Jared.

Peter nodded. Jared sighed and hauled the covers back, shuffling across the mattress to make room for Peter. He got in gratefully, trying not to lie too close to Jared but knowing that they'd eventually wake up spooned together in the middle of the bed. Like they always did. They didn't need to talk about it, it was just something that happened from time to time.

Then he closed his eyes and let the sound of his friend's breathing lull him to sleep. Because he knew that when Jared needed him to, he'd return the favour.

 _*(Roughly translates to 'my bed is your bed'. I hope!)_

 

 **4) You should never cannonball into a hot tub...**

He knew that Jared hated to admit it, but Infeld & Daniels was working out pretty well for them. They'd both been worried that the corporate lawyer lifestyle would start eating into their down time, but so far so good. The ethos of Franklin & Bash had always been to champion the cause of the underdog, and to never work past four o'clock if they could help it, and they were doing their damndest to make sure that that ethos was preserved.

Which is why 'Margarita Monday' was in full swing; the tunes were loud, the bar was plentiful and the hot tub was full. Peter ducked inside to grab himself another drink when he ran into Jared in the kitchen.

'Hey, buddy! Having fun tonight?' Peter asked, smacking the top of his beer against the counter to take the cap off it like he'd seen Jared do a thousand times. Only he could never quite get the hang of it.

Jared darted forwards and grabbed the bottle out of his hands. 'Here, let me do it, before you smash another perfectly good beer.' He deftly caught the top against the bar and it popped right off. Sucking the foam off as it rose out of the bottle, he handed it to Peter and opened another one for himself. It never occurred to them to find a bottle opener.

'Thanks, man. So, good times?'

'Yeah. Even Karp came by earlier,' Jared replied.

'Really?' Peter looked around and tried to imagine the uptight lawyer letting his hair down in the party atmosphere that seemed to have hit the Cave with a vengeance tonight.

'Yeah, he had a light beer and looked extremely awkward. Then he left.'

Peter nodded. 'So, how long did he stay this time?'

'About an hour,' Jared answered.

'Hey, that's way better than the twenty minutes he managed the first time! We'll make a party animal of him yet.'

'I'll drink to that.' They touched the necks of their beer bottles together in agreement. 'Is it my imagination; are the chicks in here way hotter than usual tonight? Or is that just the beer talking?' Jared asked, taking another deep swallow from the bottle in his hand.

'Oh no, they're waaay...'

'Hey, baby.' A blonde wearing something that could almost qualify as a bikini slinked past, trailing her fingers across Peter's shoulders as she passed behind him. 'Maybe catch you in the hot tub later?' she purred.

'Oh, I'll be there,' Peter tipped his beer in her direction. She placed a sensual kiss on his cheek before sashaying off through the open doors to the yard outside.

'Hang on to that one, Peter,' said Jared, draining his beer, 'At least you won't drown in there...'

'What?' Peter asked, innocently.

'Oh, come on! Did you not see the size of her... Hello, ladies!' Jared interrupted himself as he spun around to address two brunettes who were coming in from outside. He looked them both up and down with a lascivious grin, which earned him a well-aimed slap from the closer of the two as they walked off, indignantly.

'Ow!' Jared turned back, holding his cheek and laughing. 'What the hell...?'

'Jared, Jared, Jared.' Peter sighed, shaking his head sadly, 'It's all in the approach. You got to be subtle about it.'

'Really?' Jared grinned and cocked an eyebrow in his friend's direction as he cracked open another beer.

'Yep. Watch and learn, bro. Watch and learn...' Peter replied.

The lesson might have gone better if he hadn't tried to demonstrate his awesomeness by slipping his shades on while he was still inside. That way he might have noticed that someone had closed the screen door before he bounced off it. Peter didn't even have to turn around to know that his buddy was laughing so hard at him that he was bent double. So much for subtlety...

Later on, Peter made it into the hot tub with the pneumatic blonde - Cathy...? Cassie...? Chrissy...? Damn, he was really going to have to start paying attention to her. The trouble was, aside from a couple of fascinating points, she just wasn't that interesting. Peter found himself nodding like a toy dog while she rambled on about... hell, he had no idea!

He kept catching glimpses of Jared throughout the evening; kicking some guy's ass on the Xbox; chatting to a couple of women who _weren't_ intent on causing him bodily harm; playing drinking games to eighties movies that they'd loved as teenagers. Peter kept hoping to find him again when he went inside for more drinks or to check on supplies, but frustratingly, Jared always appeared to be wherever Peter wasn't.

As the party thinned out a little, Peter finally saw him come outside again. Jared was barefoot and wearing a pair of baggy shorts. Peter watched him as he clambered up the bank at the end of the yard, stripping off his t-shirt as he went. The fact that watching Jared taking his clothes off was more interesting to Peter than the woman next to him was something that Peter chose not to think about.

'Hey, Peter!' Jared called out, 'You got room for a little one in there?'

'Yeah, sure,' Peter called back, 'Come on in and... Jared! NO!' But before he could finish the sentence, Jared had already taken his run up and launched himself into the air.

What happened next took only seconds, but in Peter's mind it all happened in slow motion. He remembered looking up to see a small but surprisingly aerodynamic lawyer barrelling towards him. He remembered watching as said lawyer hit the water, ass first, with a resounding smack. He remembered feeling more than hearing the thud as Jared hit the bottom of the hot tub. Then he remembered seeing what could only be described as a tidal wave of epic proportions, wash over the side of the tub and onto the decking below.

Peter had had the presence of mind (possibly helped by a sound grasp of the Archimedes Principle) to grab hold of one of the hot tub's handles as Jared made his descent. His female friend, however, had not been not so fortunate and ended up exiting the hot tub rather rapidly, along with about thirty percent of the water.

As Jared surfaced, coughing slightly and blinking the water out of his eyes, he first looked around and then at Peter as if to say _'Huh? Where'd she go?'_ They both swam over to the side and carefully put their heads above the parapet, so to speak, to see a very wet, angry looking blonde who appeared to have been beached on their patio. Peter turned to look at Jared, a huge grin broke out on his partner's face and they fell about laughing.

The blonde - Katie? Kelly? Whatever... failed to see the funny side and stormed off wetly towards the Cave. This only made the whole thing seem even funnier, and by this time they were laughing so hard that they couldn't even stay upright, slipping back down into the hot tub again, unable to even speak in coherent sentences. Every time one of them got close to holding it together, the other one would re-enact a part of it and they'd both be off again. As the tub refilled, it was all they could do to hold onto each other and try not to drown as they laughed until their sides ached and tears rolled down their cheeks.

 

 **5) Making up is hard... Making out is much more fun!**

The foreman of the jury stood up to deliver the verdict. The courtroom suddenly seemed too hot and too quiet. Peter dug his nails into the palm of his hand and he could feel Jared's leg twitching nervously next to him.

'... not guilty.'

'YES!' they both hissed triumphantly, punching the air and high-fiving each other.

'Oh good grief, it's like working with Bill and Ted,' sighed Karp, collecting up his papers and sliding them neatly into his briefcase.

Peter and Jared simultaneously made air guitar motions at Karp's retreating back. Yeah, it was cheap shot but it made them laugh.

'We still on for tonight?' asked Jared as he shrugged on his jacket. 'Couch? Beers? PlayStation? Me kicking your ass?'

'Ooh... did I not mention that I have plans tonight?' Peter replied, awkwardly.

'Peter!' Jared clutched at his chest, dramatically, 'We're seeing... other people?!'

'Yeah, I'm taking Janie out for dinner,' Peter grinned. 'Should be fun, but I'll catch you later on, right?'

'Oh,' Jared's face fell for a fraction of a second, 'Yeah, sure. When you get in. Or tomorrow. Whatever.' He offered Peter a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes as he started to collect his stuff to leave the courtroom.

'Hey, you don't mind, do you?'

'No,' said Jared, heading towards the door. 'Go on, Peter. Have fun. Tell her I said... something nice.'

'She'll never believe that,' Peter called, but Jared had left the building.

It was still a reasonable hour when Peter slipped his key into the door of the Cave. It had actually taken him a few minutes to work out that it was locked in the first place, but that could have been the three bottles of wine that he and Janie had had with dinner. It wasn't usually locked. He hummed softly to himself, feeling positive about the state of his love life for the first time in far too long.

The first thing that struck him was how quiet the Cave was. They hadn't had a party scheduled because it was Pater and Jared's games night, but Peter had figured that when the plans changed, Jared would call up some replacements or have a night in with Carmen and Pindar instead. He checked his watch again. No, only just gone eleven thirty.

'Hello?' Peter wandered through the house trying to find where everyone had gone. He heard the soft murmur of a voice, then he saw Carmen standing outside Jared's door. 'Hey, Carmen! What's up with the...' She rounded on him with such a furious glare that the rest of the sentence died on his lips.

'You!' she hissed at him angrily. 'This is your mess, you fix it!' She stalked past him and into the Kitchen.

Peter was confused. What had he done wrong this time? Why was Carmen so mad at him? And where the hell was Jared? He walked up to his partner's bedroom door and said quietly, 'Jared? Are you in there?'

'Go away.' The voice was small and muffled. Something wasn't right.

Peter tried to open Jared's door but it wouldn't budge. 'Hey, Carmen?' he called, 'Did you know that the door's locked?'

'Really? 'Cause we never thought to try opening the damn thing!' Her reply was a mixture of sarcasm and anger. 'I've just spent the last three hours talking to him through the gap underneath it for fun!'

Peter could feel panic starting to rise in his chest. 'Jared! Open this door. Now!' he demanded.

'Go away, Peter,' came the reply again, a little stronger this time.

'Jared, please?' Peter leaned up against the door, as if he could push his way through by force of will alone. 'Just open the door so I can talk to you, yeah?'

'Are you deaf? I said go away!' Jared's voice was loud enough now for Peter to hear that there was a slight tremble in it. Peter had heard it before and he didn't like where that thought was leading.

'Jared, did your dad call you tonight?' Peter asked, gently.

There was a long pause and then a weary sigh. 'Peter, not everything is about my father. Please, just go away and leave me alone.' There was the sound of sheets being dragged across the bed and then silence.

Peter looked over pleadingly at Carmen who was sitting on the bar. She shrugged at him and made motions that said he needed to fix this without her help. 'Carmen, could you give us a minute?' he asked, 'Please?'

'Fine. But you better get this sorted out tonight,' she warned as she slid down off the counter top. 'Other people live here too y'know. If you need me I'll be in Pindar's room.'

'Why will you be in Pindar's room?' came the voice from behind Pindar's door. It was closed but he was clearly listening to everything that was going on.

'Because it's the cleanest,' Carmen replied shortly, opening his door and knocking Pindar over from where he was crouched behind it with a glass in his hand. The door closed behind her and Peter was alone again.

'Jared?' There was no reply this time. Peter ran his hand gently over the surface of the door, wishing that he could comfort his friend in the same way. 'Jared, I know that you're mad with me right now and I'm really sorry for whatever it is I've done. You know that I'd never hurt you on purpose, right?' Still no reply. 'And I know that you want me to go away, and I respect that, I really do, but I need to talk to you. I need to tell you in person that I'm sorry.' Peter was surprised at how emotional he felt, talking to Jared like this but getting no response. 'So I'm going to leave you alone now, but I'll be waiting just outside on the couch, and I'm not moving until you come out and talk to me. I'll wait all night if that's how long it takes.' Peter ran his hand over the door one more time, and said to himself as he walked away, 'You got to come out some time, buddy...'

Peter sat on the couch with his head in his hands and desperately tried to think what he'd done to upset Jared this much. And when he couldn't think of anything, he started to think about all the other fights they'd ever had and how each one of them been resolved. Anything to stop himself from thinking about how scared he was that he was going to lose his best friend.

Peter had no idea how long he sat like that. He wanted to say that it could have been minutes or it could have been days, because it was more dramatic that way. In reality, he guessed that it had been more than an hour but less than two when he finally heard the lock click open on Jared's door. His head snapped towards the sound and he leapt up off the couch as if it were on fire.

Jared appeared at the end of the corridor and leaned carefully against the wall without saying anything. Peter found that he was rooted to the spot, unable to cross the small gap between them to get to the person he'd hurt. Jared was wearing pyjama pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt that looked suspiciously like one of Peter's own; the sleeves fell over his hands and only served to make him look even smaller than he actually was. His hair was sticking up in places, his eyes looked red and swollen and his arms were pulled protectively around him. It made Peter feel like crap.

'Jared...' Peter began.

'I can't do this anymore, Peter.' His voice was hoarse and scratchy and Peter didn't want to think about why.

'Huh?' Confusion descended on Peter again. 'You can't do what?'

'This. You... and her. I can't do it, Peter. Not again.'

'But we haven't... What?'

'It damn near killed you before!' He was angrier now, moving away from the wall and taking a step towards Peter. 'And I can't go through that again, not with you. Because it _will_ end again and someone _will_ have to pick up the pieces and I care about you too damned much to see you hurt like that again. So if you _have_ to be with Janie, then I have to not be your friend. And I probably have to not be here too. Or something.' When Jared had finished his outburst, he dropped his head and wrapped his arms tighter around himself, as if trying to protect himself against whatever Peter was going to say in return. Or to stop himself from saying anything else.

But Peter didn't say anything. He couldn't. Instead, he finally found the ability to cross the short distance that separated them and put his arms around his best friend. Jared was still humming with anger; Peter could feel it just beneath the surface of his skin. He fought against Peter's grasp but Peter held him so tightly that he thought he might never be able to let go.

'I'm not getting back with Janie,' Peter whispered fiercely, 'I'm not, I promise you.'

When he heard this, Jared stopped trying to fight Peter's embrace. His arms fell to his sides and he let himself be held. Which is exactly what Peter did. There was still no reaction from Jared though, he didn't try to move away, but he didn't say anything and he didn't try to hug Peter back.

Peter continued whispering words of contrition and reassurance to Jared. He wanted him to understand that nothing was ever going to change between them but the words weren't working. So Peter did the only other thing that he could think of - his pressed his lips against Jared's head and kissed him.

He felt Jared freeze for a split second and then two arms were snaking their way around Peter's back, holding him in return, and it felt like Peter could finally let out a breath that he didn't even know he'd been holding. Peter kissed Jared again - because the first time had yielded such good results - and he was rewarded with a hug that was just a tiny bit tighter.

They stood that way for a few more seconds, Jared's head resting comfortably on Peter's chest. Then Jared said, 'You really are freakishly tall, you know that?'

'Sorry,' Peter apologised.

'Although you never seem as tall when you're lying down,' Jared conceded.

'Bed?'

'Couch is closer.'

Peter finally let go of Jared and led him over to the couch. He kicked off his shoes and lay down on his side with his back to the cushions. Jared lay down in front of him, although unlike when they watched movies together, this time they were facing each other. Peter slipped an arm under Jared's head and placed his other hand carefully on Jared's hip.

'Better?' asked Peter.

Jared nodded. They looked at each other for a few seconds before they both started laughing and the tension was broken. 'So, you're not getting back together with Janie then?' said Jared, conversationally, as if the idea had only just occurred to him.

'No,' Peter said, softly. 'And what the hell gave you that idea?'

'Um... You took her out to dinner?' Jared replied.

'Aaand...?'

'And you were happy about it.' Jared counted this point off as if he had a checklist.

'Okay.'

'And... You've been drinking!' Jared finished, lamely.

'And in your head, that all adds up to a rekindled relationship, does it?' Peter asked with a smirk.

'I might have jumped to some conclusions,' Jared admitted, eventually.

'Do you really want to know what happened?'

'No... Yes. She never liked me, y'know!'

'Perhaps you shouldn't have referred to her as 'Satan in stilettos' then!' laughed Peter. 'If you really want to know, firstly, _she_ asked _me_ out to dinner.' Jared raised an eyebrow but said nothing. 'Then she spent the first half of the evening telling me how much she's in love with her fiancé,' Peter said with a sigh. A look of concern passed over Jared's face. As much as he obviously hated the thought of Peter and Janie back together, he knew that that wasn't what Peter wanted to hear.

There was companionable silence between them again. Peter's hand had slipped from Jared's hip to the small of his back where it was absently rubbing small, soft circles.

'And the second half of the evening...?' Jared prompted.

'What?' Peter looked awkward.

'Well, you said that there was a first half of the evening covering her love for what's-his-face, ergo, there must have been a second half of the evening covering a different topic. Otherwise, inviting you out to dinner just to talk about another guy makes her an even bigger bitch than I thought.'

Peter snorted. 'Yeah, okay, there _may_ have been a second half of the evening. Which _may_ have been after the third bottle of wine was opened...'

'I hope you put that on expenses.' Jared cut in.

'And,' Peter continued, 'We _may_ have ended up discussing _my_ love life.'

'You don't have a love life, Peter!'

'Well, according to Janie, I do.'

'With who? You do know that your own hand doesn't count, right?!'

'With you.' There was a long pause. Jared opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again. 'Yeah, that was me about four hours ago,' Peter admitted.

'But we don't... I mean, apart from... well, I know that we...' Jared couldn't seem to find a way to finish that sentence that didn't back up Janie's theory. Finally, he stopped trying and said curtly, 'I see. Please continue.'

'Look at us, Jared; we've been best friends for more than half our lives. We live together, we work together, we hang out together, we spend just as much time in each other's beds as we do in our own. Oh, and I may have accidentally told Janie about that one time in college.' Jared rolled his eyes in exasperation. 'I hate it when someone else takes you away from me and I hate it even more when we fight.'

'But that's not a relationship, Peter, that’s just... us.'

'So how come all I can think about is how much I want to kiss you?' Peter asked, tentatively.

'And how come I'm always the one who has to make the first move?' Jared leaned in and pressed his lips to Peter's, kissing him softly.

It was all the encouragement Peter needed. Threading his hand through the hair at the nape of Jared's neck, he pulled his friend in closer and captured his mouth, deepening the kiss between them. Their tongues touched and Peter felt as though sparks were shooting down his spine and heading somewhere much further south! The hand on Jared's back found its way under his t-shirt and pulled him even closer, stroking at the warm skin. They rocked gently together, revelling in both long-forgotten touches and new sensations.

Breaking away from Jared's lips to trail kisses across his throat and down his neck, Peter wondered if it would be possible to try all their cases in future from the couch, because he wasn't sure that he was ever going to be able to move. And when Jared's breath caught in his throat, making a soft moan as Peter worked his way back up again, he knew that moving really wasn't going to be an option, at least not until Monday...

So when Peter heard the click of the door, it was just enough to make him open his eyes, if not enough to make him stop what he was doing. It would have taken an earthquake to make him stop kissing Jared. Pindar's door slowly opened and two faces appeared in the gap.

'I can't see anything. Are they making up?' A stage whisper came from Pindar.

'Oh yeah, they're making up alright.'

'Like, hugging and stuff?'

'Yeah, hugging. And definitely 'stuff',' Carmen sounded like she was grinning.

'Where? I want to see?'

'Oh no you don't!' she hissed, 'Get back inside...' and thankfully the door closed again.

'He's going to be out here with the disinfectant wipes when he finds out, isn't he?' Jared murmured between kisses.

'As long as he doesn't move us,' Peter replied, 'I really don't care...'

 **~END~**


End file.
